Private equity's exit drought has led to a record number of dividend recaps, which is when PE funds pay themselves to kick the debt grenade down the road and into a storm drain.

• A more academic description would be that PE-backed companies issue new debt and use some/most/all of the proceeds to pay shareholders a dividend.

By the numbers: Such transactions were valued at $33.4 billion through last Friday, according to PitchBook LCD.

• That tops the $32 billion year-to-date peak from 2013, and the $31.2 billion mark from 2021.

The big picture: Dividend recaps wouldn't normally spike in a higher-rate environment, but this is what happens when PE funds are unable or unwilling to sell their swollen portfolios.

• Limited partners have gotten more vocal about demanding distributions, and this is a way for general partners to keep the pitchforks at bay (and new fund commitments flowing).
• It's actually a bit ironic, as PE funds often used to do dividend recaps as a way to pay themselves before paying LPs, but that noxious practice has mostly subsided.

Why it matters: These deals are habitually horrible for the actual portfolio companies and their employees, particularly if rates remain high and/or the economy slows.

• PE pros sometimes equate dividend recaps to home equity loans, but it's a bad comp.
• If a home equity loan goes sour, it's a financial problem for the person who decided to take out the loan. The house itself is fine. In dividend recaps, the "decider" can just walk away while the underlying asset suffers.
• Yes, private equity owners still want their portfolio companies to appreciate after a dividend recap. But some of the incentive has been removed, particularly if the general partner has newer and shinier opportunities.

The bottom line: We know that dividend recaps are on the rise, but we'll have to wait to learn the consequences.

Waabi, a Toronto-based developer of autonomous trucking solutions, raised US$200 million in Series B funding co-led by Uber and Khosla Ventures.

Why it's the BFD: Self-driving tech has been spinning its wheels, unable to scale profitably.

• Waabi, much like SoftBank-backed Wayve, believes it restart the industry by leveraging AI.

True story: Dara Khosrowshahi has now been CEO of Uber longer than Travis Kalanick was CEO of Uber.

Other investors include Nvidia,, Volvo, Porsche, Scania Invest, Ingka Investments, HarbourVest Partners, G2 Venture Partners, BDC Capital, Export Development Canada, Radical Ventures, and Incharge Capital.

The bottom line: "Waabi is focusing on self-learning rather than a rule-based system for autonomous driving. Using AI, its goal is to teach a virtual driver to reason like a human so it can make snap decisions correctly and safely — even in situations it's never experienced before." — Joann Muller, Axios

☘️ Marea Therapeutics, a South SF-based developer of cardiometabolic medicines, raised $190m in Series A and B fundings from Third Rock Ventures, Sofinnova Investments, Forbion, Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, venBio, AlphaWave Global, Omega Funds, and Surveyor Capital. axios.link/3KOmkte

☘️ Huntress, a Columbia, Md., cybersecurity startup focused on small businesses, raised $150m in Series D funding. Kleiner Perkins and Meritech co-led, and were joined by insider Sapphire Ventures. axios.link/3VNay8M

☘️ Talkiatry, a psychiatric care startup, raised $130m in Series C equity and debt funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the equity, alongside Perceptive Advisors, while Banc of California provided the debt. talkiatry.com

☘️ Finbourne, a British financial data management startup, raised £55m in Series B funding co-led by Highland Europe and AXA Venture Partners at a £280m valuation. axios.link/3xaBPsw

☘️ CuspAI, a British AI engine for new materials, raised $30m in seed funding. Hoxton Ventures led, and was joined by Basis Set Ventures and Lightspeed. axios.link/3KOj01e

☘️ Princeton NuEnergy, a Bordentown, N.J., direct recycler, raised $30m in Series A funding from Samsung, Helium-3 Ventures, Honda Motor, LKQ, SCG, Traxys, and Wistron. axios.link/3Xz7mie

☘️ Bitsensing, a South Korean provider of radar solutions, raised $25m in Series B funding from Korea Development Bank, HL Mando Corp., Industrial Bank of Korea, Aju Capital, Life Asset Management, and SCL Investment. axios.link/4b30ugo

☘️ Nomad Health, a New York health care staffing and travel nurse company, raised $22m. HealthQuest Capital led, and was joined by Adams Street, Icon Ventures, Polaris Partners, .406 Ventures, and RRE Ventures. axios.link/3RxOAnH

☘️ SurrealDB, a database consolidation startup, raised $20m. FirstMark and Georgian co-led, and were joined by Crew Capital and Alumni Ventures. axios.link/4esn19e

☘️ This, a British developer of plant-based meats, raised £20m in Series C funding from Planet First Partners. axios.link/4clstZI

☘️ SewerAI, a Walnut Creek, Calif., sewer inspection startup, raised $15m in Series B funding led by Innovius Capital. axios.link/4cn0M2H

☘️ Nuffle Labs, a blockchain protocol spun out of the Near Foundation, raised $13m. Electric Capital led, and was joined by Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, Robot Ventures, Caladan, and Lyrik Ventures. axios.link/4aYw66Q

☘️ Marigold Health, a Boston substance use peer support startup, raised $11m in Series A funding co-led by Rock Health and Innospark Ventures, per Axios Pro. axios.link/45vzCEx

☘️ Auxilius, a New York clinical trial financial management platform, raised $10m in Series A1 funding led by SignalFire. auxili.us

☘️ RBW EV, a London maker of retro hand-made electric sports cars, raised £10m from Meson Capital Partners. axios.link/4b6aEN9

☘️ Stanly, an LA platform for fans to connect, raised $8m. C Capital led, and was joined by AppWorks, Goodwater, and Palm Drive Capital. axios.link/3Vez7Kc

☘️ Scoop Analytics, an SF business analytics tool, raised $3.5m in seed funding. Ridge Ventures led, and was joined by insiders Engineering Capital and Industry. scoopanalytics.com

☘️ FalkorDB, an Israeli knowledge graph database for LLMs, raised $3m in seed funding. Angular Ventures led, and was joined by K5 Tokyo Black. falkordb.com

☘️ Proofs, a go-to-market startup for APIs, raised $2.6m. Earlybird Digital East Fund led, and was joined by Expeditions Fund, RTP Global, and Step Function Ventures. proofs.io

☘️ Blue Sage Capital acquired OneSource, an Atlanta provider of flooring products and installation services. onesourceone.com

☘️ Great Day Improvements, a Macedonia, Ohio, portfolio company of Littlejohn & Co., acquired ELM Home & Building Solutions, an East Brunswick, N.J., provider of gutter and roofing products, from Audax Private Equity. elmhbsolutions.com

☘️ Hillhouse is in talks to buy some Singapore and Korean schools from Dulwich College International, which previously had interest from Blackstone, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4etoxYB

☘️ KKR and TPG are among those kicking tires on Italian drugmaker Recordati (Milan: REC), which is controlled by CVC Capital Partners, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3VrNUBG

☘️ KKR and Singtel agreed to invest around $1.3b into STT GDC, a Singaporean data center colocation services provider. axios.link/3RtT7ri

☘️ Transtar, an Ohio portfolio company of Blue Point Capital Partners, acquired PPi Automotive, a Pittsburgh automotive parts wholesale distributor. ppiautomotive.com

☘️ Flag Ship Acquisition, a midmarket SPAC led by Matthew Chen (ex-JPMorgan), raised $60m in its IPO. axios.link/4b6ttzR

☘️ Lionheart Holdings, a SPAC formed by Miami investment firm Lionheart Capital, raised $200m in its IPO. axios.link/3R5NzmF

☘️ Melar Acquisition I, an "emerging finance" SPAC led by Gautam Ivatury (ALMA Sustainable Finance), raised $150m in its IPO. axios.link/4aLfSOl

☘️ SIM Acquisition I, a health care SPAC formed by Sauvegarder Investment Management, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/3xkQ91A

☘️ Tavia Acquisition, a SPAC led by Kanat Mynzhanov (Bellprescot Asset Management), filed for a $175m IPO. axios.link/3RwJc4o

☘️ Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) acquired a majority stake in listed German point-of-sale firm Vectron Systems. It also completed its previously announced acquisition of Atlanta's Revel Systems from backers like Welsh, Carson and Anderson & Stowe. axios.link/4erpMrc

☘️ TA Associates hired Morgan Stanley to find a buyer for Netrisk Group, a Hungarian price comparison site that could fetch around €500m, per Reuters. axios.link/3KKsbjo

☘️ Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) agreed to buy Silk Road Medical (Nasdaq: SILK), a Sunnyvale, Calif., maker of vascular medical devices, for $1.26b in cash, or $21.67 per share (27% premium to yesterday's closing price). axios.link/45tpJHn

☘️ Mozilla bought Anonym, a privacy-focused digital advertising firm that had been backed by Griffin Gaming Partners. axios.link/3XpA8Sw

☘️ Shell (NYSE: SHEL) agreed to buy Pavilion Energy, a Singaporean liquefied natural gas trader, from Temasek. axios.link/45vHvdd

☘️ TravelPerk, a Spanish business travel management platform valued at $1.4b by VCs, acquired AmTrav, a Chicago business travel company. It also secured $135m in debt financing co-led by Blackstone and Blue Owl. axios.link/45BNMnF

☘️ WHP, Simon Property Group and Brookfield, via a joint venture, have won the bankruptcy auction for apparel retailer Express. axios.link/3Vve2vq

☘️ The Engine, a "tough tech" VC firm spun out of MIT, raised $398m for its third fund. axios.link/4c53ytM

☘️ Hamilton Lane raised $5.6b for its sixth secondaries fund, which makes it the largest fund in the firm's history. hamiltonlane.com

☘️ Kinderhook Industries raised $2.75b for its eighth fund. kinderhook.com

☘️ Refactor Capital, a VC firm led by Zal Bilimoria, raised $50m for its fourth fund. axios.link/45s0d5x

☘️ Paradigm, a crypto-focused VC firm, raised $850m for its third fund. axios.link/3VEcikF

☘️ Ananya Das is leaving Guggenheim Securities to join UBS as a managing director focused on services companies, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3z6GlJ3

☘️ Spencer Peterson joined Coatue as a general partner. He previously was a partner with Bedrock. axios.link/45AO6TF

☘️ Ali Syed joined Lazard as a managing director and head of sovereign and pension fund coverage. He previously was with Citigroup. lazard.com